I've been reading this collection of stories slower than anticipated; some stories take a bit to get into and others I want to better absorb the prose so it is taking longer. I have enjoyed Harte's stories, especially Salomy Jane's Kiss and Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff.

Finished City of Mirrors (Justin Cronin) and started Finders Keepers (Stephen King)

The Passage is one of my favorite SciFi books but The Twelve really went downhills. City of Mirrors was okay but it felt like Cronin was writing for a screenplay. Some of the characters got stupid and did things only to advance the plot. I am glad I finished it but it was okay.

I finished the Way of Kings by Sanderson. WOW. I really like most of the characters.

Spoiler:

I kept reading as a battered George RR Martin reader, expecting him to kill off favorite characters

Funny, Ed Harris & Viggo Mortensen are the guys that I envision in these novels since they played Cole & Hitch in the Appaloosa flick based off of the series. Ed Harris' co-writer of that film was picked by the estate of Robert B. Parker to continue the adventures of Cole & Hitch in these new adventures.

Fantastic series! Whatever I read next will be hard pressed to top this. I forget which poster it was, but I agree that I liked the 2nd and 3rd books more than the first (less derivative, more focus on space opera world-building).

I see a movie is in development. On paper, this should make for 3 outstanding movies (the writing style is very cinematic). Marc Foster is attaching to direct which seems a good choice. The challenge will be to not make it appear too derivative of Hunger Games, and have people not familiar with the books write it off at the start.

Is this considered YA? I see it grouped like that at some places. Even though the main characters are YA (aging from 16 to 22 over the series), the content is hard-R (very graphic violence, sex, perversity, obscenities). I always thought part of the YA genre is that they are generally considered appropriate for junior high (and above) teen readers ... no more than PG-13 level.

Not that it matters to me Just trying to understand what it means when I see a book labeled YA (maybe meaning I could expect a more adult-level content than what I previously thought).

The YA label has been throwing me off on this, too. I went into the series expecting YA and end up with rape, murder, brutal warfare, etc. I don't think I'd want my kid reading this any earlier than about 15-16 y/o.

The Passage is one of my favorite SciFi books but The Twelve really went downhills. City of Mirrors was okay but it felt like Cronin was writing for a screenplay. Some of the characters got stupid and did things only to advance the plot. I am glad I finished it but it was okay.

I finished the Way of Kings by Sanderson. WOW. I really like most of the characters.

Spoiler:

I kept reading as a battered George RR Martin reader, expecting him to kill off favorite characters

. I hope the next book is just as good.

yeah the Passage was great. The Twelve wasnt as bad as I remembered it the second time through. City of Mirrors was a fine finale, though.

Never saw the tv series, and fortunately was able to go into reading this completely unspoiled. Knowing this was a trilogy, I was pleasantly surprised the main mystery was explained by the end of this.

Spoiler:

And thank god it wasn't the "they're all in purgatory" explanation I'm not sure if the logic of the science holds up to scrutiny and there are a few things I still don't quite get (why wait 1800 years? surely there's a better way to kill rebels than having the whole town go on a psycho hunt, especially when it's been established that hidden surveillance is everywhere) But there are a couple more books in the series, so I'll see. Overall, I like the hard sci-fi direction the setting took ... though I can imagine fans of more conventional mysteries/thrillers weren't so pleased.

That may be a negative for the other books in the series. But while the main mystery is solved, there are plenty more things that can happen in this world.

I can see I need to tread carefully on goodreads ... just marking my vote and getting the book cover image, I'm seeing comments by people who just can't help themselves talking about the rest of the books, comparing everything to the tv show, and giving away huge spoilers left and right.

I had a couple of flights last week so that helped with my reading time. I read:

I'm Not High But I've Got A Lot of Crazy Stories about Life as a Goat Boy, a Dad, and a Spiritual Warrior (Jim Breuer)
Psych: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Read (William Rabkin)
Shortened Seasons: The Untimely Deaths of Major League Baseball's Stars and Journeyman (Fran Zimniuch)

It's a very interesting experience reading this book. I read a bit of background on it and apparently the marathon swimming community does not view her kindly. She wants to call this an unassisted swim but people put sunscreen on her, helped her put on and off her jellyfish protection suit, had a streamer to guide her, had a shark defense team, etc. I agree that it should not be call unassisted and it matters because if one person ever does it without all those aids they should deserve the title of the "first" one unassisted.

There's also the issue of how fast she was going and whether she held on to the boat or not, but this will probably never be known for sure.

And apparently she wasn't transparent. Her independent observer had never done this before and was wearing a team Diana shirt. People wonder why the swim wasn't trackable. She keeps saying "we followed the rules" but won't say what the rules was. And enough people have said that she wants her opponents to fail to believe that she really has said it. And she has called people who worked for her and then help others traitors because they take knowledge and experience gained while helping her in order her opponents (and the crew who are competent to help marathon swimmers are not that numerous).

She is slammed all over marathon swimming bulletin boards. But Amazon reviews are stellar over what an inspirational and awesome person she is. Such a disconnect between both words.

About 60 pages from finishing (about a fifth of the book). She's winning me over (I almost wrote she's swimming me over ) against my better judgment. People who do what she does have to be a bit self-centered, I guess. She does so much as confirm that she didn't want her opponent to come to harm but she wanted her to fail because this is HER (Diana's) dream and no one else should take it form her.

I wish I had read it just knowing "She swam 100 miles" and then found out everything afterwards. Knowing all the background info has made me drag a bit on reading the book.

I just finished these two books. They were fun reads, with the vamp book being both sexy and sad, and hugely entertaining, that I can't wait to read the other books in the series.

I'm nearly finished with this one, and it's a re-read, the second time since high school. It's interesting seeing my opinions on the book now vs then. It's still Ellis's best book in my opinion. Hilarious, dark, offensive satire that's also incredibly disturbing.

And I just started this one.

I'm slowly making my way through The Bible. I just finished the Book of Ruth and it's going to take forever to get through the Old Testament. So I just read it sporadically one chapter/section at a time.

These three have been put on the back burner, since I have a bad habit of starting other books before I finish one, and so I direct my attention to one over the other. They're good books so far, I just got caught up in other material. Ann Frank diary is depressing, obviously, and since it's not a actual book and just slice of life diary entries. I'll just read one chapter at a time when interested in it again and eventually finish it.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish. I like Crouch, Wayward Pines and and Run (in particular) were fun reads. I'm considering downloading this.

I'm in between books right now, after finishing Morning Son by Pierce Brown. I want to start King's Firestarter, but my paperback is at my dad's. It's one of the only old-school King book I never got around to. I've got Duma Key and Ransom Rigg's Miss Peregrine trilogy next to me, but not sure I'm ready to delve into those quite yet.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish. I like Crouch, Wayward Pines and and Run (in particular) were fun reads. I'm considering downloading this.

I'm in between books right now, after finishing Morning Son by Pierce Brown. I want to start King's Firestarter, but my paperback is at my dad's. It's one of the only old-school King book I never got around to. I've got Duma Key and Ransom Rigg's Miss Peregrine trilogy next to me, but not sure I'm ready to delve into those quite yet.

I read the Wayward Pines trilogy and I disliked the final book of that trilogy and for awhile I was unsure if wanted to read another Blake Crouch book. I was glad I read this. I finished it earlier tonight because I couldn't put it down. It was pretty good and got me hooked right away. I liked it except for how couple of supporting characters' roles were handled in the book. I'll probably run some of Crouch's other books later on.

I read the Wayward Pines trilogy and I disliked the final book of that trilogy and for awhile I was unsure if wanted to read another Blake Crouch book. I was glad I read this. I finished it earlier tonight because I couldn't put it down. It was pretty good and got me hooked right away. I liked it except for how couple of supporting characters' roles were handled in the book. I'll probably run some of Crouch's other books later on.

Full disclosure: I never got around to reading the last WP book, although I enjoyed the first 2. I figured there wasn't much point after watching the show which adapts the entire trilogy in season 1. I do recommend Crouch's book Run. I remember really enjoying it, just turn your brain off and don't expect a scientifically rational explanation for the event that triggers the book's events.

I found my copy of Firestarter! So I'm putting Duma Key to the side for now.